(Update: To clarify, I refer to conservative thinkers in this piece and add Gillespie to the group. I don’t mean to characterize — at all — the Reason editor as a “typical” conservative. Gillespie is a libertarian who is conservative in the free-markets sense of the word, but his views on socials issues are more complex.)

Your Spotted This Morning correspondent, who relishes going Gonzo whenever possible, left his basement blogging HQ this weekend and went into the field for a little research.

I wanted to see first-hand what Colorado conservatives were up to during this time that Republicans are spectacularly flaming out in the governor’s race.

Relaxing under a tent with cigars and drinks after a morning of sporting clays, the institute’s Jon Caldara said to great laughter that it was now time for Republicans to collect their shotguns, form a circle and aim for the center.

Is it possible, even in the slightest, that Colorado had a rainy day fund due to fiscal discipline stemming from TABOR? And just where the hell do Centennial State voters get off on demanding that they get to vote on tax increases? That’s just anarchy! To recap: Colorado is in fact doing better than most states (in part because the housing bubble popped there a coupla years early), but they are in for a world of hurt when economic recovery comes and the government can’t just jack up spending irrespective of citizens’ input.

As much as I would love to see Nick move to Colorado, I suspect by the time he unpacked his bags, he would have figured out that we’re no longer an exemplar of fiscal prudence .

This year, the Colorado Dem. legislature lifted the statutory provision on the general fund’s annual growth to 6 percent forever — without going to a vote of the people. (They already lifted that cap for a five-year window with the passage of Referendum C in 2005). The Governor is already talking about forming one of his ubiquitous committees to look into overturning TABOR in 2011.

Instead of raising taxes, our imaginative legislature simply kept raising fees (like $250 million on vehicle registration fees, $600 million on hospitals and the elimination of the state sales-tax exemption on cigarettes, to name a few). A property tax “freeze” was also lifted that has the potential to cost taxpayers $1.7 billion in new taxes.

Nick points to this paragraph from the Economist, as well.

Colorado’s economy remains healthier than many others. Unemployment in March stood at 7.5% compared with 4.6% a year ago, but still below the national rate of 8.5%. And years of economic diversification away from manufacturing and the cyclical oil and gas industry have improved prospects for growth….

That’s good news. It’s true: the oil and gas industry will be far less cyclical in coming years. That’s because Governor Ritter, a big proponent of the government mandated and subsidized “new energy economy” has been killing the genuine energy industry in the state. Coupled with an energy downturn, no doubt, onerous regulations — The Wall Street Journal called them “most far-reaching drilling restrictions in the nation” — are already hurting the state’s economy.

Those are just some of the ways Colorado is dismantling the fiscal responsibly and sensible regulatory framework that has saved this state from the crushing overspending that we’ve seen elsewhere in nation. Critics of TABOR always claim that the bill doesn’t allow government to spend. But it does. All you have to do is ask. And politicians hate asking.

It’s no secret that most Democrats have been trying to kill TABOR since its inception. Here is what then-governor Roy Romer had to say about TABOR during the campaign fight over the bill of 1992, courtesy of Michael New:

In fact, during the 1992 campaign Governor Roy Romer repeatedly denounced TABOR, saying that defeating TABOR was the “moral equivalent of defeating the Nazis at the Battle of the Bulge.” He personally attacked TABOR’s author Douglas Bruce, calling him “a terrorist who would lob a hand grenade into a schoolyard full of children.” Finally, Romer predicted that TABOR would result in an economic Armageddon and warned that the Colorado border would have to be posted with signs reading “Colorado is closed for business.”

The opposite has happened, of course. Colorado has prospered under TABOR. Yet, the fight to kill it never ends. But don’t get me wrong, Colorado still a great place to live; just not as great as it used to be.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.